Prison
by DollyPop12
Summary: "Move in with me, Jinx. Give this up. You don't need to do this anymore." "The answer has always been no before. What makes you think this time is any different?"


**"I need an interventionist to intervene between me and this monster and save me from myself and all this conflict. Cause**  
**the very thing that I love's killing me and I can't conquer it."**_  
~Eminem, "Monster"_

**"I'm friends with the monster that's under my bed. Get along with the voices inside of my head.**  
**If you're trying to save me, stop holding your breath. And you think I'm crazy,**  
**Yeah, you think I'm crazy. But that's not fair."**_  
~Rihanna, "Monster"_

Wally West has never had an obsession.

Not one that was destructive, at least. He'd always been someone who could resist temptation: who knew how to stretch out his hands far enough, reel in his restraint as if it were on a fishing line. And for most of his life, it worked. He was the pride and joy of his aunt and mentor-uncle, was Kid Flash and saved countless people, got sparkling grades in school, hell, the guy was even polite.

He had a track record as clean as a disinfected piece of newly-made plaster.

So why her?

Why now?

Why in a disgusting jail cell, face set hard and heart malleable as putty, staring at her as if he could excavate her torso and find his reasons? As if she had his answers.

Of all things, of all people: It was her.

Through the bars of the cell, Jinx looked as vulnerable as diamonds. Tough and strong, the pillar to his ocean. God, he wondered, how did he ever get himself into THIS mess?

He remembers the first time he met her. If he's being honest, she wasn't even close to the most beautiful girl he'd ever met. He'd seen Black Canary and Wonder Woman and Huntress. He had made out with Wonder Girl, had held hands with Raven, stolen subtle-soft glimpses at Starfire in her skin-thin clothes.

He couldn't even begin to explain why he was interested in some petty villain girl, smaller than him by nearly a head even in platforms. Sure, she was different looking. Not weird, exactly. And definitely not in an unpleasant way, but different regardless.

It was the bright, bubble-gum pink hair in bull-horn style, skin more ashen than even Raven's, and a disposition as corrosive as acid. At first glance, he thought she was the same as ever other villain he put away.

And then he talked to her and he knew. The knowledge delved into his gut, not too unlike poison,

Standing in front of him dressed in eye-catching stockings and a black and purple dress with sleeves flared out too far to be truly flattering, this, SHE, was a survivor.

Trust him, he'd met them before. Each of them gave him that feeling of lead knees. They were the ones who would take on the world and do everything, ANYTHING, to win. And they were so incredibly inspiring. But more than that, they were even more dangerous.

Now, standing before her, feeling as if he were stripped bare, the poison was back.

Jinx's candy colored eyes seemed to flare in the dank light of her holding cell. A piece of him wondered if it were a warning as much as it was an act of intimidation, but most of him was too busy not ripping into the cell and pinning her to the wall.

He wanted to kill her.

And kiss her, and love her, and despise her, and hug her and cry. He wanted to grab fistfuls of her hair between his hands as they tangled in the bed, wanted to bite at her skin as if he were feral.

He wanted to leave.

But god did he want to stay even more.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, voice cutting as calculated as a butcher in front of a carcass. She never did have much tact when it came to her curiosity, but this was as much for her as it was for him.

He knew it.

She knew it even more.

Under his mask, he was panicking. He wondered if his flesh had turned transparent, if the blue of his eyes became glass marbles she could peer through and see everything he wanted to hide behind them. Every inch of his body wanted to do what he was known for, what he was GOOD for.

He wanted to run.

But long ago Wally had realized that he didn't have obsessions, that he could hold in his want until it bubbled beneath his bones. He could do this.

He took a deep breath in, forcing the edges of his lips up into the grimmest grin he was sure he ever made. She winced when she saw it, so he assumed it must have been bad.

"What?" He asked. "Not happy to see me, Jinxy?"

For the barest of moments, nothing changed. But then, he watched her eyes narrowed in concern, face seeming to melt down and with it, so did her entire body, it seemed. The woman he related to iron turned feather soft in the bat of his eyes.

"Stop fucking with me, Kid."

"I don't know what you're talking about", he countered.

"Why are you here?" she asked again. "It's not for pleasantries. And I'm pretty sure it isn't to stare at me as if I'm some damn zoo exhibit. So spit it out, hm? Why?"

Silence. She watches him close his eyes and tilt his face away from her, the anger sparking in her belly as if to ignite the guilt.

"Damnit, Kid. Stop wasting my fucking time and **leave** if you won't do anything. You and I both know this isn't a check in. So for god's sake, suck it up and tell me. Not like I'll be out of here anytime soon."

After a beat, he looked dead into her eyes.

"You will", he said, lips barely cracking open.

The stillness that followed was driving him insane.

"….You're bailing me?"

"Haven't I always?"

"I put you in a hospital! Again. Is this some sick way of stacking up my favors? I owe you now? Or are you still bent on converting me?"

"Stop it, Jinx. We've been through this too many times before," and though the voice was nonchalant, he was far from okay. His hands shook as he unfurled his fist, revealing the key, still warm from the confines.

"You're right. And you never give me a damn answer."

When their gazes met again, electricity passed in the air.

"Because you know why", he scoffed.

"Do I?"

"Of course you do. Wanna know a better question? Why do **_you_** tolerate it?"

She sighed, stepping up to the edge of her holding cell and wrapping a pale hand around a bar, just above her ear as she tilted her head up to look at him more clearly. Without her platforms, she seemed miniscule, reaching to about an inch under his chin. He had always imagined that she'd have to jump up for them to kiss, legs wrapping around his waist as his hands held her up beneath the thighs. And that always lead to too much thought, to imagine meeting her at midnight, mask ripped aside and mouth hot and heavy-

He swallowed.

Hard.

Taking in a thick breath of air before he moved forward, he tried to insert the key but her free hand shot out, seemingly as fast as he was, wrapping around his wrist and squeezing hard enough to surprise him, making him drop the main source of her escape. When his bewildered eyes met her own, she seemed calm enough as she yanked him forward, so that he almost had to go cross eyed from looking down.

His entire body felt brittle, like if she kept touched him, he'd just scatter into a million, billion cells, turn into dust. But she was relentless, trailing her hand up to his shoulder before the clack of her shackles penetrated the room, startling him further. Instead of stopping, she leaned into the bars, face tilting up higher and straining on her toes.

"Jinx-"

"Nicole. My name is Nicole," she cut in, eyes twinkling.

"….Nicole."

Her laughter was soft but still sarcastic. "I figure I might as well start paying my debt off, huh?"

His mouth turned up against his will, a natural ghost of a smile. Her giggle was sweet and refreshing, and he wanted to hear it every day of his life, but he knew the game by now. Knew she was trying to make him forget the questions, make him stop thinking.

And Wally was tired of losing.

When his own hand cradled against her face, she didn't hit him. In fact, she didn't even protest, instead, smirking.

"You probably know exactly what you're doing to me," he muttered. And the girl scoffed.

"Please. I failed Seduction 101 with the lowest grade a villainess ever got in HIVE." She paused only for the hollow chuckle he granted before her entire demeanor turned grim. "You know I'm no good for you."

"I know."

"So why? And don't just say you love me, Kid-"

"Wally."

"W-…What!?"

"My name is Wally. Wallace Rudolph West."

"Are you insane!?" she almost screeched, starting to move away before he held her in place, throwing both arms through the spaces of the bars to hug her, metal digging into their skin.

His laugh seemed genuine, all of a sudden.

"See, Nicky. **That's** why. Because you keep saying you're so horrible, but when you have the opportunity to destroy me, you never do."

"I never took you for a gambling man," she hissed, thrashing.

"I'm not. I'm not the kind to get stuck on a villainess for either, but look where I am now."

She huffed, barely relaxing in his grip. "I'm getting too old for this shit."

"And I'm not?"

"Then give up."

"You forget, Nicky. I'm the fastest boy alive. You can't tire me out that easily."

"Funny, sure looked it just then."

He ignored the jab. "Move in with me. Give this up. You don't need to do this anymore."

"The answer has always been no. What makes you think this is different?"

"Because you love me too, hm?"

She froze.

"That's why. You tolerate all of this. Anyone else, you'd rip to pieces, but not me. And it's because you love me," he continued, almost smug.

"….Took you long enough to figure it out."

"I've known for a while…never let myself believe it, though. Just….too good, y'know?"

Her look was deadpan. "Too good? Whoohoo for you: a two-bit villainess, with no luck to speak of loves you. Yeah, you sure hit the jackpot."

He smiled, soft and sweet as he pressed in closer, but it was tinged with something sad. "Nicky….if you say no again, I…I'll give up. I can't keep doing this. I'll have to, I don't know, move, or something. Everything just…reminds me of you, too much."

After a beat, she lowered down her head, hiding her face from his gaze. "Guess you'll need to clean out your apartment, then."

"Wha-" he started, the anguish showing on his face. He had thought this time was different. He though this time, he'd succeed. But she was rejecting him again, she was grinding him to microscopic pieces-

"God, calm down. That means "yes", Wally. You know, so there's room for my stuff," she muttered out sarcastically, looking back at him.

There was only a single second of silence between them before he grabbed at her hair and thrust her forward, laughing and grinning.

Jinx had never thought her first kiss with the guy would even happen. She didn't have obsessions, she thought she could hold out long enough. But, she still imagined it, sometimes. And it was never in this setting.

Never in a dank prison room, through metal grates, in the rags they threw her to change in, without her boots. Clinging to him and feeling the warmth contrasting with the bars. He never thought their kiss would be so…good? Liberating? Maybe. She wasn't one for romantics, and she wasn't going to think about it for too long.

But when they pulled away, she didn't even care that she was smiling too.

"Let's go."

_-  
**"Maybe I need a straight jacket, face facts, I am nuts for real, but I'm okay with that.**  
**It's nothing, I'm still**  
**friends with the monster that's under my bed."**_


End file.
